Tahira Ali supports people as they navigate the joys and trials of pregnancy — from giving birth to postpartum, and everything in between.
She’s also helped pregnant patients work through domestic violence, homelessness and poverty. It’s exactly the type of work she wanted to do when she trained to become a doula, a person who helps parents through childbirth.
So when California’s health insurance for low income people expanded to include doula services in 2023, she enrolled. But now Ali says she’s owed thousands of dollars for services she’s provided to Medi-Cal patients due to unpaid reimbursement claims.
She’s not alone. Two years after Medi-Cal started covering doula care, a number of those workers say it’s a constant fight to get reimbursed for their services. Others say they haven’t been paid for some work at all…